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Cardinals know price is steep if they want a top QB in NFL draft

Cardinals Patrick Peterson takes a picture with Cannon Cabral on his birthday during the Hyundai Youth Football Camp at Arizona Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz. on July 2, 2018.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Cardinals Patrick Peterson takes a picture with Cannon Cabral on his birthday during the Hyundai Youth Football Camp at Arizona Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz. on July 2, 2018.
Patrick Breen/The Republic

Children take pictures with Cardinals Patrick Peterson during the Hyundai Youth Football Camp at Arizona Sports Complex in Peoria, Ariz. on July 2, 2018.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals Robert Nkemdiche (90) during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
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Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks huddles with his players during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks huddles with his players during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals Robert Nkemdiche (90) during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks huddles with his players during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks huddles with his players during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks huddles with his players during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks huddles with his players during voluntary Organized Team Activities on June 5, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Sam Bradford hands the ball to running back David Johnson during voluntary Organized Team Activities on May 23, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Sam Bradford hands the ball to running back David Johnson during voluntary Organized Team Activities on May 23, 2018 at the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Ariz.
Rob Schumacher/The Republic

Cardinals scout and former player Adrian Wilson (left) and Cardinals general manager Steve Keim look on during the Cardinals Spring practice at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Cardinals scout and former player Adrian Wilson (left) and Cardinals general manager Steve Keim look on during the Cardinals Spring practice at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
David Wallace/The Republic

Cardinals quarterback Mike Glennon (7) during a Spring practice at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Cardinals quarterback Mike Glennon (7) during a Spring practice at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
David Wallace/The Republic

Cardinals offensive coordinator Mike McCoy (left) and head coach Steve Wilks during a Cardinals Spring practice at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
David Wallace/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Cardinals offensive coordinator Mike McCoy (left) and head coach Steve Wilks during a Cardinals Spring practice at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
David Wallace/The Republic

Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe on April 19, 2018.
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Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim talks about the upcoming NFL draft during a press conference at the team training facility in Tempe, Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim, left, and head coach Steve Wilks talk about the upcoming NFL draft during a press conference at the team training facility in Tempe, Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim, left, and head coach Steve Wilks talk about the upcoming NFL draft during a press conference at the team training facility in Tempe, Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks talks about the upcoming NFL draft during a press conference at the team training facility in Tempe, Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Tom Tingle/The Republic

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Mike Glennon works out at the Tempe training facility, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, during the offseason strength and conditioning program.
Tom Tingle/azcentral sports

Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson throws a heavy ball over his head at the Tempe training facility, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, during the offseason strength and conditioning program.
Tom Tingle/azcentral sports

Photos: Arizona Cardinals offseason – 2018

Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson throws a heavy ball over his head at the Tempe training facility, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, during the offseason strength and conditioning program.
Tom Tingle/azcentral sports

Arizona Cardinals run sprints at the Tempe training facility, Tuesday, April 3, 2018, during the offseason strength and conditioning program.
Tom Tingle/azcentral sports

Arizona Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim, left, and head coach Steve Wilks talk about the upcoming NFL draft during a press conference at the team training facility in Tempe, Wednesday, April 18, 2018.(Photo: Tom Tingle/azcentral sports)

Trying to pry tangible information out of an NFL general manager and head coach about their pick intentions in the days leading up to the draft can be about as fruitful as asking a teenager to clean up his room. You can ask all day without getting any results.

Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim admitted as much on Wednesday when he and first-year coach Steve Wilks met with reporters for a pre-draft news conference.

“It that’s time of year; the misinformation is flowing and I don’t expect the next 20 minutes to be any different,” Keim said, opening the interview session that lasted just a tad longer than 20 minutes.

Want to know whom the Cardinals plan to take with the 15th overall pick? Forget it. Want to know if they’re willing to make a splash and trade up to snag one of the top four quarterback prospects? Nice try. Keim and Wilks weren’t about to tip their hand on any front other than to say they’re preparing as hard as ever for this year’s draft, which will be held next Thursday through Saturday, and they hope they nail it.

About the only thing Keim was willing to unveil is that the team’s primary draft board will be set by Friday, when the Cardinals will have their top 120 players ranked in order. He added that the organization has prepared 5,000 reports involving some 200 players and that the club has “left no stone unturned from big schools to small schools, and we’ve certainly searched high and low.”

Arizona has eight picks in the draft. In addition to the No. 15 selection, the Cardinals have one in the second round (47th overall), two in the third (Nos. 79 and 97), and one each in the fourth (134), fifth (152), sixth (182) and seventh (254).

If the right deal and player is there, the Cardinals might be willing to consider trading up, although Keim cautioned the price to pay could be enormous, saying, “If it’s a dynamic player at that position that is a game changer, they’re not going to take anything short of the mortgage for the house, the farm and everything.”

Though former coach Bruce Arians suggested to azcentral sports on Saturday that the Cardinals probably already have a trade partner or two lined up should they be considering making a deal on Day 1, Keim suggested that any trades the team may want to make likely won’t come until Arizona is on the clock or close to it.

“And that’s because you’re sure that player that you covet so much is going to be there at your pick,” Keim added. “It’s a sliding scale and again it’s an inexact science. More than anything, if you’re giving up compensation, how much? Are you mortgaging the farm? How much is it going to impact your organization moving forward?

“With the salary cap, the amount of players we’re playing with our situation right now, we have to have some young guys have success.”

Cardinals fans want to know the identity of the future franchise quarterback. Arizona hasn’t drafted one higher than the fourth round since using a first-round pick on Matt Leinart in 2006. Keim and Arians have said they coveted certain ones, such as Pat Mahomes a year ago, only to watch the Chiefs leapfrog ahead of them to take him.

That could happen to the Cardinals again this year if a team such as the Bills move ahead of Arizona to draft UCLA’s Josh Rosen or Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, who visited the Cardinals on Wednesday. Keim said the meeting went well and that he admires Mayfield’s “competitiveness and passion.”

Keim said it’s no secret the Cardinals are in the market for a quarterback in next week’s draft, but added: “Are you willing to put the franchise in a position to be set back for years if you’re not right? I mean, it can be crippling for us if we traded the next couple drafts to go get a player that has never taken an (NFL) snap and doesn’t have success.”

Keim was asked if it’s time the Cardinals take that risk, considering they can’t be sure what they are going to get out of the two primary quarterbacks on the roster, Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon.

“If you believe in the player, yeah,” he said.

Keim also said he “constantly” looks back over his previous five seasons in charge of the team’s draft and admits it probably was a mistake that the Cardinals didn’t draft a quarterback somewhere in the top two or three rounds. One of his biggest regrets, he has said in the past, was missing out on Russell Wilson.

“I think about the things that I’ve done wrong more so than I think about the things that have gone well,” he said. “To me, when you’re a competitor, that’s how you grow and get better in this business, is to be critical of yourself.”

Whomever and however they draft, Wilks at least seems far more at ease in playing rookies right away than did his predecessor. Arians never believed a first-year player could help him until Thanksgiving – at the earliest.

“I’ve been in situations in the past where we’ve taken fifth-, sixth-round guys, free-agent guys, and they’ve come in and performed for us and performed well,” Wilks said. “The biggest thing is making sure we get the right guy, with the right traits and most importantly, I think I have a coaching staff that Number 1 are great teachers, outstanding communicators and guys that can develop players.

“That’s what this league is all about in my opinion. We know what we’re going to get in the first and second round. The bells and whistles. But I think this staff, this scouting department, the personnel and these coaches have done a tremendous job in trying to find some of those down-the-line guys that we’ve identified already that we feel like can come in and really contribute this year.”

Asked about the Cardinals’ options with the 15th overall pick, assuming they keep it, Keim indicated the team would take the best player available, regardless of position. That would seem to rule out Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is viewed as the sixth-best player at his position by most scouts and industry sources.

It doesn’t mean the Cardinals won’t be aggressive, though, and bet the farm on someone else – be it a quarterback or a different prospect altogether.

“It goes back to the player that you covet,” Keim said. “If you really are passionate about that particular player that you know can be a game changer, go get him. Sometimes, it’s more than you’d like to pay for them, but if you’re convinced that player can play you, I don’t think there’s any reason (not to). We’ve tried to trade up in the past … You have to find the partner, that’s the problem. Teams aren’t always willing to trade.”

Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Wednesday night between 7-9 on Fox Sports 910-AM on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash.